Why did Canada send a delegation to Web Summit? (CanCon ep. 135)

Canada delegation at Web Summit

There were more than 500 Canadians at this year’s Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. Two hundred of them were sent as part of a Canadian delegation to the world’s biggest tech conference.

Why? For a lot of reasons.

Firstly, because Web Summit’s other tech conference, Collision, is coming to Canada in 2019. It made a lot of people interested in heading to Lisbon to learn how they should prepare for what will happen in Toronto. CanCon spoke with Alison Gibbins, Tech Community Engagement Lead at RBC, about her evaluation process.

Secondly, while some are looking to prepare for Collision in Toronto, others are looking to prepare Toronto for Collision. CanCon spoke with Chris Rickett, Manager, Entrepreneurship Services at the City of Toronto about what is keeping Mayor John Tory up at night.

Of course, there were also members of the delegation less interested in selling the idea of Canada to the world than they were in selling to global customers. Jauntin’ CEO Rain Takahashi spoke to CanCon about why Europe can be a more enticing market than the United States when it comes to international expansion.

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BetaKit’s best from Lisbon
Ahead of Collision 2019, federal, provincial, and municipal governments team up to sell Canada at Web Summit
Toronto Mayor John Tory “taking nothing for granted” when it comes to Collision in 2019
Slack’s CTO shares how it became the fastest-growing business app in history
Alexis Ohanian doesn’t want you to fall for hustle porn
Element AI lays out its product roadmap at Web Summit
AppDirect’s Daniel Saks says organizations need “co-opetition” to stay competitive

Canadian Content music clip (under fair dealing): “Flying” by Bryan Adams
Ad music: “Dreams” by Joakim Karud

Douglas Soltys

Douglas Soltys

Douglas Soltys is the Editor-in-Chief of BetaKit and founder of BetaKit Incorporated. He has worked for a few failed companies and written about many more. He spends too much time on the Internet.

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